August 1, 2018

Virtus.Pro to Also Skip IEM Oakland

European squad Virtus.Pro have chosen not to attend Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Oakland, joining a list of teams that have elected to skip the event in favor of giving their players a break.

In a statement on the ESL website made yesterday, VP General Manager Roman Dvoryankin said that the team will prioritize in giving their players rest after extended online and LAN play have run them ragged.

“It was a hard call to make, but after long and careful consideration we have decided to withdraw from IEM Oakland,” Dvoryankin said in a statement. “It’s been extremely hard as we know how much our fans on West Coast have been looking forward to see some real VP action.”

“We’ve had a very hard period during last couple of months with tournaments and online qualifiers filling almost every single day. Today we feel that to keep on performing on top level and make sure we deliver the right emotions to all our fans worldwide we need to make a small break and concentrate on upcoming events. California, we now have a debt to pay, so see you next year!” he added.

In their place, Heroic will compete at Oakland. VP is the latest in a series of pro teams that have elected to drop the IEM event, citing similar concessions to player rest.

Immortals and Splyce’s League of Legends teams have already announced that they have declined their invitations. Team SoloMid was originally slated to miss IEM but announced yesterday that they will play in Oakland with a yet to be revealed roster.

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